The global economic expansion has stressed the transportation industry's ability to keep up with the shipping demands for raw materials and finished products. As a result, the demand of the transportation industry to utilize existing personnel and vehicles has resulted in increased time on the road for each vehicle and driver in an attempt to meet the market demands.
In an effort to maintain the safety, regulations governing the amount of time that a driver may spend behind the wheel have been instituted. When such maximum times have been reached, the driver is required to pull over and rest. Evidence of this can be seen by the large number of trucks one regularly sees pulled over at locations such as toll plazas, weight stations, and rest stops. However, these locations often do not provide anywhere for the drivers to rest, necessitating continued occupancy within the vehicle.
In response to the needs of the transportation industry and in recognition of the locations where drivers are forced to rest, over-the-road vehicle manufacturers have continued to increase the emphasis on ergonomic factors in the design and manufacturer of their vehicles. Indeed, the interior of a modern over-the-road vehicle contains many features to minimize the stress and fatigue placed on the drivers during the operation of the vehicle. These features include vibration dampers, lumbar supports in the seats, and increased sound insulation that provide a comfortable environment for the driver. To accommodate the required rest periods, many over-the-road vehicles also include a sleeping compartment.
Unfortunately, some transport vehicles do not originally come equipped with air-conditioning or other heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC) units. This is especially true for the sleeping compartment, which typically do not include air-conditioning or other HVAC units. Thus, the main cabin or cab, and/or the sleeping compartment may be uncomfortable to the tractor-trailer drivers both when driving and when resting or sleeping.
Moreover, transport vehicles that have air-conditioning units, typically only allow the operation of such units when the vehicle's engine is turned on, forcing the over-the-road vehicle operators to choose between two less than ideal situations while trying to rest, i.e., either to continuously run their vehicle's engine (even while stopped) so that they may have heating or air conditioning while they rest, or to turn off their engine and try to rest in a non-temperature controlled environment, although temperatures can become extremely hot or cold depending on where the vehicle happens to be. While the first option improves convenience by providing a comfortable resting environment for the driver, it greatly increases the cost of operating the over-the-road vehicle and worsens air quality as the engine is continued to run, which burns additional fuel, simply to operate the air conditioning or HVAC unit. Similarly, while the second option does not increase the cost of be exposed to extreme environmental temperatures, thereby adversely affecting the ability of the driver to rest and potentially reducing the operator's performance and thus the safety of the operation of the vehicle.
It would be advantageous to provide an aftermarket air conditioning system that reduces the comfort and safety tradeoff disadvantages described above. There exists, therefore, a need in the art for an improved air-conditioning or HVAC system to provide a comfortable temperature controlled environment for the vehicle drivers both on and off the road.